Need Help Becoming a Werewolf (NOT as a Companion)

My character is a Redguard warrior. No magic, no archery, just dual-wielding swords. I would like her to become a werewolf, but not through the Companions. I read on-line that all you need to do is find a werewolf and let it attack you until there's a note saying you've contracted lycanthropy.
I wandered around and eventually found a werewolf kept captive by some Silver Hands. I spent the next hour letting the stupid thing attack me until (eventually) it killed me because I ran out of health potions. I had my character remove all her armor and I had more than 30 health potions. I also had it on..Novice? The easiest level. I looked on-line and found an article that said Redguards have a harder time becoming werewolves because of their natural resistance.
So...any advice? My next plan of action is to buy as many health potions as possible and to make as many myself as I can. But is there a potion I can take to make my character more susceptible/vulnerable? Or am I doing something wrong?
Thanks...
Kallisti

I don't know the stipulations behind contracting lycanthropy from a random werewolf as to whether or not you can change at will, haven't heard otherwise but I haven't tried. If you become a werewolf through the companion quest line you are able to use the power "beast form" once per day (ring of hircine allows for infinite uses/day). In the bloodmoon add on to Morrowind you did not have control over your transformations. If I remember correctly you changed at every full moon and could not remember what you did. It was not a practical power and it wouldn't be in this one either.

I think winterhold is right about the cure though. I haven't found any cure other than through the ENTIRE companion quest line.

And believe it or not guys some of us do like to roleplay our characters. If being a companion doesn't fit his character's personality (making assumptions here) then it's completely reasonable to avoid the guild.

To Brad: Yeah if you do the companions quest you can control it just as a spell its located in the area where your character specific magic area such as for nord {battle cry}. But as for random werewolf bites you meet a guy in jail that is a werewolf {sinding} and he turns randomly so I'm not sure.

Kallisti: Go to the jail in windhelm walk to the weird looking jail cell and speak with the man in it. Agree to help him and when you hunt him down don't kill him let him go and he becomes a friend and maybe he will turn you. I'm not really sure just trying to help.

There is three ways of becoming a Werewolf in Skyrim. One: Companions. Two: Addspell Cheat (PC only) Three: Find a wandering female Nord on the road, at night. She will say something about "Don't mess with me if you know what's good for you." and she is in her underwear. Note: She counts as a Random Event that happens on the roads and can only be found at night, like the Headless Horseman. I can confirmed her cause I had found her but I was already a Werewolf. BUT, I heard that if you kill her, you can drink her's wolf-blood but doing it this way may have different effects and isn't instantly.

It's Bloodmoon all over again... The same thing is going on as it did in Bloodmoon. Bethesda hide one way, and doesn't even add it to the guide, while keeping the other around. In Bloodmoon, the most common way to become a werewolf is during the Bloodmoon mainquest or via cheats. BUT there was a 3rd way, hidden way in Bloodmoon.This Hidden way was very hard to do; took me 5 months to do it; and that way is to find 1 of the 8 Wandering Lunatics on Sols. The bad thing is these lunatics had either 98% or 99% chance of NOT being there. In you other words, you have 8/800 - 16/800 chance of finding one of them. And this is true, I have the Construction Set and that is how I figured this out in the first place. Also, there is a 9th Werewolf that has a 90% chance of NOT being there and he is in a dungeon on East side of the island, if I remember correctly.

Because of this, I wont be surprise of the hidden way I'm talking about here. I created a new character today and planning to find this myserious werewolf again and this time, do what I can to become a beast of the hunt via her. Until then, believe what you will. I'll comment again to confirm this way. Also, Hircine's Ring only works for Werewolf Players, it does nothing if you are cured/not one; was like that for me.

It took me about 3-4 Quests to actually become a werewolf. There is really no negative effect on just becoming a werewolf through the companions. IF you just get the disease from an actual werewolf, you can not control the transformation. Which can lead to you transforming into werewolf form in a large city, and you will have like a huge bounty. Long story short, in the longrun it all works out better with just completing it with the companions.

Now becoming a Vampire on the other hand is a different story my friend. To my beliefs, the only way to become an actual vampire is to be bitten by an NPC vampire. Not that hard right? Well, when your a vampire I believe (may be wrong along the lines of it) that you lose 75% of your health in the sunlight. Bummer I know, but that is just one of those moments when Skyrim has that realistic feel.